


Lights of Their Eyes

by LittleMissPixieStix



Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Blood, Death, Feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-31
Updated: 2016-01-31
Packaged: 2018-05-17 08:04:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5860807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleMissPixieStix/pseuds/LittleMissPixieStix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fic written for Day 6 of Demo Appreciation Week: On the Battlefield! - </p><p>Out of all of the fights the team had, this one against Gray’s bots was going to be the worst.  They were already all so tired, the last several fights had taken so much out of them, and they didn’t have much left for this battle.</p><p>It didn’t matter how tired they were though, they had to fight.  It was a case of win or die trying; if Gray pushed past them, then there was no way to stop the bots from wiping out respawn and going after the mercs one last time.</p><p>One more set of waves to battle back.  That was all they had to do and then they’d be home free.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lights of Their Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> You can find this fic on Tumblr here: http://littlemissfemscout.tumblr.com/post/134597388012/lights-of-their-eyes  
> Likes and reblogs are appreciated, but by no means required. =)

 

Out of all of the fights the team had, this one against Gray’s bots was going to be the worst.  They were already all so tired, the last several fights had taken so much out of them, and they didn’t have much left for this battle.

It didn’t matter how tired they were though, they had to fight.  It was a case of win or die trying; if Gray pushed past them, then there was no way to stop the bots from wiping out respawn and going after the mercs one last time.

One more set of waves to battle back.  That was all they had to do and then they’d be home free.

The Demoman had finished readying his equipment for the fight.  Truthfully, he’d never be ready for what they were about to go face, but time constraints were pushing him out the door out into the bleak unknown that was the field today.

The others joined him on the walk out.  They had been given a five minute warning and getting caught during setup would be like getting caught with their pants down, painful and embarrassing for everyone.

Tavish was doing his best to remain calm.  Deep breathing, boucing on his toes, glancing back to make sure his bombs were in place, taking a sip of his scrumpy, repeat.  His actions didn’t go unnoticed.

“Bomb man okay?” Heavy asked, his large hand gripping Sasha’s handle.

"Fine.  As fine as I can be,” Tavish replied, eye never leaving the gate.

“Sure you’re ready, Cyclops?” Scout asked, gripping and regripping his back, “Wouldn’t want to think that you were scared none.”

“Me?   _Ach_ , noooo,” Demo said, “Seems like you’re the fidgety one Scout, eh, Heavy?”

Heavy gave a grunt and a small nod.  Those were understandable responses given the situation.  Really, any response was.

Demo turned his head to look over at Heavy, and then turned it more to look at the rest of his team.  

Scout was hopping from foot to foot, ready to go racing in the moment he saw a robot emerge from the gate.  Medic was behind Heavy, but he was also looking over the team.  Was he determining locations so that he could heal them, or was he prioritizing who he would try to save if they fell?

Tavish would rather not think about it.  

Soldier was on a roof, his rocket launcher heaved over his shoulder, ready to jump down after raining down some rockets.  Sniper was on a roof too, the red light of his rifle already pointing at the gate.  Engineer had set up behind the bunch, covering a slimmer alleyway with his setup.  Pyro was moving back and forth between the front group and the Engineer, either antsy or needing to see that everything was ready for themselves.

The alarm sounded, sounding like one of the loneliest sounds in the world to Tavish, and the metallic clanking signalling that the tin can troupe was on its way.

Though he was antsy, he was prepared.  Tavish understood the two outcomes here; victory or death.  Growing up, he had been raised a fighter. 

He was a Scotsman.  He would leave everything out here on the field, and walk away a victorious man, or he would die trying.  It was just the DeGroot way.

The moment the wave of robots rolled out into view, the team was on it, beating them back before they advanced too far.  This could only last so long, though, and the groups breaking through started to get larger.

After one overzealous Scoutbot started to run past them with the bomb in tow, Tavish gave chase lobbing some of his bombs to force the robot to change direction and bumble over into the sticky trap Tavish had laid.

It was strange how this reminded Tavish of playing tag with the kids back in the orphanage.  How he was striving towards catching the leader, how he was planning, trying to think ahead of his opponent and beat them.  How could such an innocent game be tied in with this situation of blood, death, and war?

The bot was blown up into a million pieces, and Tavish quickly laid down another sticky bomb trap, throwing them into a building that seemed like a decent route for a bot to take to try to slip by them.  He didn’t pay attention to where he lobbed them, he had other things to focus on.

When he turned, he saw two Demobots barreling down on him, swords gripped in their metallic fingers.  How Tavish’s entire being, his heritage, had been bastardized into these horros, he didn’t know.  What he did know was that he wanted them out of his sight.

He launched some of his grenades as he ran towards them damaging their armor, and drew his sword in time to slice one of the bots through the chest.  There was a gear that must have tightened upon death, though, because Demo couldn’t pull his sword out.  Not quick enough.

Soldier came down from the sky, screaming bloody murder as he cracked a shovel through the other bot’s head. Forget Medic’s wife in all her naked glory, Soldier’s shrill snarling self as he came sailing over was the most beautiful sight Demo had ever seen.

“You alright?” Soldier asked, struggling to pull his shovel out of the bot.

“Fine, thanks.” Tavish said, watching Jane fight to win his shovel back, “That seem harder than usual?”

“Definitely.” Soldier replied, finally pulling his shovel out with a grunt.

“Guess Gray’s wised up and tightened some things up in the bots.  Lucky us,” Tavish said as the two of them raced back to the front lines, “Wonder if this effects only tha’ sharp objects.  Blunt ones shouldn’t be bothered, right?”

“Doesn’t matter.  You, me, Medic, and Spy, and Sniper are out a melee.”

“Knowing you, Jane, I figure you’ve got something blunt to use.”

“Even still, don’t fire until you see the light of their eyes,” Jane said, pausing, “You gonna swap out?  For what?”

“Haveta’ swap.  Can’t keep fighting with a sword that gets stuck,” Tavish said, “Won’t have a screaming eagle to help me out every time.  Might use a frying pan...”

“You’re going to fight with a frying pan?”

“I’m only joking, Jane, let me have a second to smile, boyo.”

“Only have time for one second.”

“Ha, thanks for that,” Tavish said, “You going to swap out?”

“I’ll swap when you’re back,” Jane said, “Don’t want too few men at the front at once.”

“I’ll be right quick, Jane, don’t you worry.”

Tavish sprinted to respawn, throwing down his sword as he rifled through the cabinet.  Sword, sword, axe, train spike with a nail through it, and sword.  Why did he have so many sharp melee weapons?   Gritting his teeth, he choose his only option, the caber.  Wasn’t the best option for a fight, especially using it basically caused it to blow up in his face, but it was the best option he had now.

There was a whir of respawn working, and Scout appeared, immediately taking off running out of the room.  Demo started to race after him, caber in hand, but he stopped.  

Stooping, he picked the sword he had dropped and placed it in the cabinet. Was it placed perfectly?  No.  But it was good enough.  Better than sitting on the floor, anyway.  What good was protecting his heritage if he treated it just as badly?

Now, after the sword was put away, he raced out onto the field.  He had only been gone for a minute, two tops, but the situation was worse. It had steadily been getting worse through the fight, but this certainly wasn’t good now.

Demo sprinted towards the Medic.  The German had his bonesaw lodged solidly in a bot’s torso, and he was steadily getting surrounded as he fought to pull the blade out.  Demo started to take out the small conga line of robots from the back, picking them off as some turned and started heading his way instead.  Medic was handling himself at the front, using the bonesawed bot as leverage as he kicked the closet bot back.  As Demo worked his way towards the front, Medic finally wrenched his bonesaw free and they met in the middle.

“ _Danke_.” Medic replied as he caught his breath.

“No problem, Doc,” Tavish said, “Sharp things’re getting caught in ‘em now.”

“You don’t say,” Medic said, a hint of tired attitude in his tone.

“Jus’ watch for that,” Tavish said, heading up to starting picking off the small horde of Scoutbots bursting from the gate.

Before Tavish had taken two steps, there was a horrible, awful, sound.  The familiar whir of respawn, the hum of life, died with a sharp groan.

“The hell?” The Engineer said, glancing towards the back of the base, the spot that the power for respawn hid.

“Tell me there was no planned maintenance,” Tavish said.

“There’s no reason the system should have died like that.”

“Do you think the administration cut us off?” Medic asked, his face stony, unreadable.

“Left us here to die, you mean?” Engineer asked.

“It’s possible.” Medic said as he headed back up to the front, “It’s always possible, Engineer, you know that as well as I do.”

Engineer’s silence did nothing to help reassure the group’s worries.  But another voice did.

“Fortunately, the answer is not as backstabbingly horrible as you’re thinking,” Spy said, uncloaking next to the dispenser as he pulled out some bullets, “A bot, specifically an Engineerbot, teleported back there and began to take the system apart.”

“Assuming they’re dead now?” Tavish asked.

“Yes, of course.” Spy replied, “Judging by your weapon choice, you’ve learned about the bot’s new feature.”

“Feature?  The sword-trapping?”

”Self-locking, you mean,“ Spy said, loading up his gun, “They’ve been modified to lock once they shut off, effectively trapping weapons inside of them.  The Engineer and I discussed it briefly already.”

“Catch me up on that once the fight’s over,” Tavish said, “Engie, you going to go fix respawn?”

“Means I have to leave you all to fight,: Engineer said slowly, “If I got back there, there won’t be anyone maintaining this passway.  You know that, right?”

“If we all die, there won’t be much of anyone maintaining anything, Dell.”

“Point taken,” Engineer said,  glancing at the field, “I’ll head over there now.  See if I can piece it back together before someone kicks it.”

Engineer started to head away, but he paused, glancing back at Demo over his shoulder.

“None of you all better kick it.”

“We’ll do our best,” Tavish said, pausing, “Take care of yourself, Dell.”

“You too, Tav.”

With those parting words, the Engineer was off, taking the back paths to reach the respawn power supply as quickly as he could,  He needed to repair it as fast as he could, but as correctly too.  Wouldn’t do any good to build something as delicate and powerful as respawn back up if it wouldn’t work.

Demoman joined back up with the others.  The next minutes were tense, with everyone hearing that their one lifeline had been cut.  Medic had become extra vigilant, healing anyone the moment that they became hurt.

A group of Medicbot’s and Heavybot’s lumbered towards them, and Demo heaved his caber with a sidethrow, whipping it perfectly into the middle of the group.  He got the strangest Deja Vu, a memory of skipping stones into the loch flashing through his thoughts.  The explosion was reminiscent of the large splash as the end, when the rock could run no more and had to finally sink.

But the mighty dam could only stand so long.  So the few cracks they had grew, prodded with a growing number of robots and a growing lack of energy.  They pushed themselves, they had to, but it was getting difficult.

And then one of them fell.

Out of nowhere, a Sniperbot shot Scout, the twitchiest one of them, through the chest.  One moment he was running, and the next he was down in the dirt, blood oozing around him.

Medic was off like a rocket, crouching down and flipping the boy over as Heavy and Demo provided them some cover.  It was slow work, the bullet had entered Scout’s heart and couldn’t just be healed over without him dying again soon after.

Once Scout was stable, Medic heaved him over his shoulder and rested the unconscious boy down next to the dispenser.  It wasn’t the safest place, but it would have to do.

Nevertheless, the message had been clear; at any moment they could fall.

And Tavish was ready for it.  His warrior’s pride wouldn’t let him feel any other way.

Th waves became harder and harder to keep back.  The team’s exhaustion was fast catching up to them, but they had to keep pushing back.  That was all they could keep trying to do.

Demo started to take out a group of Soldierbots, launching explosives in the middle of the metalheads, when he felt a sharp pain in his torso.  It only took a short glance to realize that there was a blue scope light lined up to his heart.  He jumped out of the way, but the light followed, the shot hitting his side.

Before the bot could line up another shot, there was the sound of a shot being fired and the bot fell.

“Keep movin’” Sniper radioed, “If ya’ can that is.”

Gripping his bloody side, Demo grunted a thanks to Sniper, ready to find out how injured he was.  Before he took a step, Medic was by his side, healing him with the medigun.

“Nearing an über, are you ready?” Medic asked.  The poor man looked exhausted, unsurprising since he was fighting to keep all of his team mates alive.

“Not pocketing Heavy?” Demo asked, "He’d be good to pop one on.” 

“Dead.” Medic’s words were blunt, short, clipped, and yet still full of an emotion the man probably didn’t want to reveal, “Sooner I use it, sooner I can build it up again.  You can cause a lot of damage, _ja?”_

“’Course I can,” Demo said, “Ready for the uber, Medic.  Got a target?”

“Go for zhe large ones.  Giant Soldierbot’s coming.” Medic said, “Take him out before he releases a critical barrage.”

“Got it.” Demo replied, eye already scanning for the bot.  He spotted the bot before it spotted them, and he started planning how to eliminate it.

The two of them started heading towards the bot, Medic following Demo’s lead no matter which way he weaved or wove.  The noise of the bot walking grew louder and louder as it approached.  

 “Ready?” Medic asked, his hand tensely twisting on the handle of his gun.

“Ready.” Demo replied.

The charge was released and the power of the uber washed over Demoman.  The electricity danced along his body, making him feel more alert and powerful than ever.  The red beam formed a second skin over both his and the Medic’s forms, creating the best, even if temporary, armor.  With an uber fueling his fight, Demo felt like he couldn’t lose.  

Even when the rockets camisoles, striking both him and the Medic, it felt like they couldn’t lose.

It was easy to place the explosive pellets when you didn’t have to worry about the barrage of rockets heading towards your face.  Aiming for the joints, the bot didn’t stand a chance.  It went down with a groan, landing face down in the dirt.  It was still programmed to launch rockets, so despite laying right on the ground, it attempted to keep firing, causing the bot to explode and take out a group of Pyobots with it.

There was no time for celebration, though.  The fight was still taking place, and it wasn’t going to get any easier.

And it didn’t.  Things started going down hill very quickly.

Sniper was killed by a Spybot, the Aussie’s arm hanging down the only indication of his quiet death.  Spy, ironically, was killed by one as well, his back exposed as he was shooting down a Soldierbot.  Pyro had been battling back a horde of Scoutbots near where Engineer had left his sentry and dispenser, and where Medic had left Scout, when they were taken down.  The bots continued to beat their body once Pyro was down, causing the fuel tank to leak.  One spark was all it had taken to ignite everything in the vicinity.

That small group of bots had been defeated, but at what cost?

“Scout!” Demo cried, looking at the fireball where his unconscious team mate had been laying. Had the boy been killed in the resulting explosion or was there a chance he was alive? 

“Scout is dead,” Medic said, “Focus, Demo.  As long as we defend the point, we have a chance.  Focus on the fight now, and forget the mourning until later.”

Demoman let out a shaky breath.  Medic was right.  Of course, Medic was right.  The fight was where they priority was.  The fight was what they needed to deal with right now.  

But the kid...The kid had been so young.  Out of all of the people here, Demo figured Scout would have been one of the ones to survive.  Instead, the Bostonian had been one of the first taken out of the fight, and one of the last few to officially kick it.  He lived fast, talked fast, ran fast, and died fast.   

Too fast. What a sad twist of fate for the boy.

It was down to three on the field now.  Three of them, Soldier, Medic, and Demoman, were the last sort of defense RED had out on the field.  But how long could they last?

The bots were doing everything in there power supply to ensure that the mercs didn’t last long.  Groups were sent out with nary second to spare between them, the giant bots came parading out like they were at a metallic fashion show of death, and they were doing everything in their power to come in first.

Another giant Soldierbot clunked through the gate, firing rockets like there was no tomorrow.  The group dodged as best they could, until they started getting pushed back.

“Get behind me!” Medic shouted, ready to release the shield.

He stopped, moving to pop the shield out.  It came, but then it fizzled out immediately.  The display said that he had a shield ready, that one should be out right now.  He looked closer at the screen; it was cracked.  It had been broken in the fight, and the display was glitched or the medigun was broken or-.

Could this have happened at a worse time? 

In less than a moment, the man of medicine was no more.  A rocket had hit straight on, causing a shower of blood to fall and body parts to be scattered across the already red field. Another causality was added to the list.

And then there were two.

Luckily, it was near the end of a fight.  The hordes were getting smaller as the field grew more littered with metal and bullets.  Still, the last mercs were running on fumes.  Either Gray was gong to run out of bots, or Demo and Soldier were going to run out of energy.

They worked well together, knowing what the other was going to do before they did it. They worked together like a well oiled machine, even as it was running out of fuel.

Then a screaming gaggle of Demobots came racing out of the gate, charging as they fought to overpower with both swords and high octane fuel.  It was sudden, unexpected, and it caught the tired mercs off guard.

Demo lobbed his grenades, and Soldier fired his rockets, taking out the bots a few at a time.  Demo took the group that split off to the right, and Soldier the ones to the left.  

Demo had a few close calls, sometimes barely taking one out as it reached a sword’s reach of swiping his head off.  It was close, but thankfully not too close.  

As the Scotsman dodged a bot aiming to barrel him over, he fired a grenade a it’s metallic head and glanced over at Jane, eye widening when he saw what was happening and he rushed to go help.

The There were three bots left in Jane’s group, and the split up, one on the left, one on the right, and one going down the middle.  Soldier took out the middle one, but had only turned when a sword was stuck through his chest.

Some grenades were sent flying their way, but not before the other robot had cleaved Jane’s head from his shoulders, sending it rolling away down the slight slope of the hill.  His headless body fell, just as the robots were blown up.

Demo ran over to Soldier, feeling dizzy as he looked over the body of his team mate, his last team mate, and his friend.

There was no time to mourn. No time to remember Soldier as the brave lunatic that he was.  There was a loud crash, and a giant Demobot appeared at the gate.  It was the last bot of the fight, and it seemed determined to go fetch the bomb that had been dropped in the middle of the map and carry it to the drop zone.

Tavish was determined to stop it at all costs.

His friends had died because of these bots, because of this fight, and he’d be damned if he was going to lose it now.

The fight was on, with Demo moving quickly, lobbing shots when he got he chance, striking the bot where ever he could.  It was going to take a lot to take down this bot, and Demo only hoped that he had enough.

It didn’t seem like it.  The bots continued mostly unhindered, despite the explosive rain pelleting down on it.  It was past the halfway mark, moving towards the bomb, and Demo had just run out of ammunition for his grenade launcher.  He’d have to find a different way

As they neared the area where Demo had stopped the bomb before, the bot moved to go through a building, finding it the most direct route.  It was heading right towards Demo’s sticky bomb trap, so the Scotsman pulled out the remote.  

Whether or not the bot knew what that was, he fired a grenade at Tavish.  It ended up no only destroying the remote, but also Demo’s hand.  That option was out too.

All he had left was the melee.  The explosive caber of a melee.

Using it on the bot now would be suicide.  It would ignite the sticky bombs and it would ignite the bots supply of explosives in that building as well.  Doing that would surely kill him. But it was the only chance they had.  Unless Demoman managed to cause a massive amount of damage to this bot, they were going to lose.

With the caber in his hand, Demo hesitated.  The clanging started to send less like a robot and more like funeral bells, the whir sounded less like a motor and more like the whisper of death.

When he had called his mother before the fight, how any times had he said “I love you?”  Once?  Twice?  Three time?

No matter, it hadn’t been enough.  

Especially since he wasn’t going to get to say it anymore.

Growing up, he had been raised a fighter.

Demoman panted, racing towards the building with the giant robot.

He was a Scotsman.  

Demoman stepped inside the old shack, the wooden floor creaking under his fast footsteps.

He would leave everything out here on the field, and walk away a victorious man -

Ducking, he got right next to the bot, right where striking it would be sure to set off a chain reaction of explosions.

\- Or he would die trying.  

He swung, making sure he could see the lights of its eyes just for Jane, and the explosion engulfed the building in a fiery bloom of destruction.

It was just the DeGroot way....

...It was going to be good to see the others lads again[...](http://littlemissfemscout.tumblr.com/post/134599260332/more-if-you-didnt-read-lights-of-their-eyes)

**Author's Note:**

> Sad fic, eh? Everyone's dead, eh? Killed until they were dead by robots, eh? 
> 
> Or are they?
> 
> Get your eyes back up there, soldier, and take another look if you don't like the ending. There may be a way to change the story yet. =)


End file.
